When you stop and consider God, it is quite remarkable that we have a God with goodness central to His character, loves us and plans good for us.  Oh! He is all-powerful as well.  Together, this should give us great confidence in the Lord and anything He calls us to do.  This year God has convicted me not to be limited by what I know to be possible or practical, but rather to actually believe that with God, all things are possible (Luke 1:37; 18:27).  The call was for me to “let down my nets” and to not be limited by what I know, by experience or by the pragmatic approaches of pop culture.  The conviction is rooted in Luke chapter 5, verses 4 to 11.

It is a simple story with profound truth for the believer.  Jesus had asked Peter to put his nets in the water.  Peter’s initial response was to contest the request stating that he had already tried that as they had been fishing all night and caught nothing.  But Peter reluctantly agrees and puts his net in the water. Suddenly a large quantity of fish is captured in their nets and they began to break. They filled both boats with so many fish that the boats began to sink.  The scripture says that amazement had seized them and Peter fell at the feet of Jesus in humility and stated he was unworthy to be in the Lord’s presence.

When I read this, I think of the blessing that could have been missed if Peter had refused to listen to Jesus.  Peter, through his own efforts, was trying to catch fish, but was unsuccessful.  Jesus, knowing their failed efforts, simply says trust me and let down your nets.  Sometimes I wonder if we miss many blessings because we do not believe that God can do more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  Peter wanted to catch fish, he probably never imagined catching enough to fill two boats.  I think we have a tendency to question God or not believe God when He wants to bless us, if the task seems impossible or because we limit ourselves to our own common sense.  Perhaps even telling God that this is not what I imagined or not how I planned it out!

Trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding.  – Proverbs 3:5

The Lord tells us that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). When I think of events that have unfolded in my life this year and others that are continuing to develop, I am very excited to see what God is going to do, and I am thankful that God would invite us to let down our nets.  When we do, and we pray without doubting God (James 1:6-8), God will put His glory on display to bless us in ways we never imagined.  When we put God first, He will not only give us the desires of our hearts, but our relationship with Him will mold the desires of our hearts.  Because He knows our inner-man and is not subject to human wisdom, but teaches us with spiritual thoughts and spiritual words (1 Corinthians 2:11-16), we can take steps of faith, let down our nets, and It is there that God will give us everything we hoped for and it is likely not what we imagined!